The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling

This article is about the book written by Grand Maester Munkun. For the fifth book in A Song of Ice and Fire, see A Dance with Dragons. For the Targaryen war for succession, see Dance of the Dragons. For the song, see The Dance of the Dragons. For the television episode, see The Dance of Dragons.

The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling, at times simply called Munkun's True Telling, is a book written by Grand Maester Munkun about the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. It contains some inaccuracies.

History

Munkun's True Telling was penned about a generation after the events it chronicled. Archmaester Gyldayn regarded it by far the most detailed and authoritative of the many accounts that survived in his day. The exhaustive history drew on many different sources, including maesters' chronicles, memoirs, stewards' records, and interviews with one hundred forty-seven eye witnesses to the events. Much of Munkun's work drew upon the confessions of Grand Maester Orwyle, and eye-witness account, yet one whose author was anxious to portray himself in a favorable light and absolve himself of any misdeeds. Although Orywle himself was thus portrayed too favorably by Munkun by Gyldayn's estimation, his writings were nonetheless an invaluable resource to Munkun. It may have contained other inaccuracies, such as the illogical claim that Ser Byron Swann had attempted to slay Vhagar, rather than a dragon on the side of the blacks.

Orwyle's account was biased in favor of Rhaenyra, however, just as Septon Eustace's history of the Dance was biased in favor of Aegon II.

Though Archmaester Gyldayn believed the titular conflict was more properly termed "the Dying of the Dragons," Munkun's work helped raise the more poetic naming into the pages of history.

Contents

It is Munkun's True Telling which reveals that Lord Larys Strong made sure that King Aegon II Targaryen escaped King's Landing when the city fell to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and her forces.

Recent Events

A Dance with Dragons

Byron Swann faces a dragon—Vhagar, according to True Telling © Tomasz Jedruszek for The Rise of the Dragon

When Haldon Halfmaester asks Tyrion Lannister if he can tell him the name of the knight who tried the same ploy Serwyn of the Mirror Shield used on the dragon Urrax with the dragon Vhagar during the Dance of the Dragons, Tyrion answers that it was Ser Byron Swann, who was roasted for his trouble, but he corrects the halfmaester by stating that the dragon had been Syrax, not Vhagar. Haldon tells him he is mistaken, mentioning The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling by Maester Munkun as his source, only to be interrupted by Tyrion, who tells him that Grand Maester Munkun was wrong.

Tyrion explains that Byron's squire saw his master die and wrote of the manner of his death. The squire's account says that the dragon was Syrax, Rhaenyra Targaryen's she-dragon, which makes much more sense than Munkun's version as Swann was the son of a marcher lord, and Storm's End was for Aegon II Targaryen. Vhagar was ridden by Prince Aemond Targaryen, Aegon’s brother, making it, according to Tyrion, unlogical that Swann would have wanted to slay her.